#akelei

Columbine / Akelei ‘Lousiana’ (Aquilegia caerulea)

Master of Claude de France, Book of Flower Studies, ca. 1510–1515. The Cloisters Collection, metmuseum.org

“Many of these flowers had long-recognized practical uses in medicine or cooking. Here, though, the artist simply glories in their beauty. He paints their portrait, contriving to show them at once from the front, from the back, from the side, as they bud and bloom and as they fade into senescence.”